Motion Pictures
Scope
This overview of the Library's collections deals with the motion picture holdings of the Library. Television broadcasts are covered separately. There is by necessity a certain overlap here, since our television broadcasts are preserved by motion picture film. However, since we regard broadcasts as fundamentally different from motion pictures, broadcasted material are treated separately.
Size
The collections of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division include approximately 150,000 motion picture titles, with several thousand titles added each year. Piece count estimates currently run to 490,000 reels of safety and nitrate film and 162,500 videotapes.
General Research Strengths
The vast majority of motion pictures have been received as copyright deposits, and this has influenced the nature of the Library's holdings. In general, the eclectic collection of M/B/RS has meant that we have a very broad range of material. Between 1912 and 1942, the Library did not collect film that was deposited for copyright. This is still the weakest period in our collection; however, this gap has been filled to some extent by gifts. The major strength of the collection is therefore the extremely broad collection of American film dating back to 1894.
Areas of Distinction
The Copyright Collection: The Copyright deposits comprise the largest, most visible portion of M/B/RS holdings, and are the most used materials (virtually all copies are considered reference prints).
One of M/B/RS's earliest and most important collections, the Paper Print Collection, is comprised of copyright deposits. Because there was no provision in the Copyright Law for registering motion pictures, these films were deposited as photographs printed on strips of paper. In 1912, new copyright legislation permitted the registration of motion pictures as a distinct form, but the Library chose not to house the flammable nitrate film in use at the time and returned all works to their claimants. The Paper Print Collection encompasses the full range of filmmaking activity during the early years of the industry, from 1894 to 1912 (notable latecomers are a number of 1914 and 1915 Keystone Comedies).
Among the 3,000 titles, one finds comedies, dramas and actualities (genuine and artificial) on a wide variety of topics. Period cameras recorded such historical events as the Spanish-American War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Boxer Rebellion; international fairs and expositions in Buffalo, St. Louis and Paris; the America's Cup and automobile races; lots of fire departments; Union Pacific Railroad trains; and urban mass transit in Boston.
American Film Institute Collections. With the founding of the American Film Institute (AFI) in 1967, there was finally a national organization that could focus attention on film preservation and actively seek motion picture materials in need of preservation. AFI assumed the role of catalyst and facilitator -- soliciting material, working with collectors and seeking funds -- while depositing collected films in existing archives, primarily the Library. The AFI Collection fills some of the gaps in the Library's other acquisitions, primarily for the years 1912-1942 when no copyright deposits were retained, and in holding of preprint materials. Some 20,000 titles have come to the Library as gifts from AFI. Some highlights among the AFI Collections at the Library of Congress are: Black film, covering African American culture on many subjects; De Forest Films (AFI/Zouary Collection) comprising early sound films from the 1920's; and Melies films (AFI Academy Collection), covering much of the work of Georges Melies.
Non-Copyright, Non-AFI Collections
A wide variety of other motion picture films and videotapes have been received by the Library over the years, independent of copyright deposit and the American Film Institute. Collections range in size from one to many items. Following are sample collections of interest:
- George Kleine Collection (1898-1926, 456 titles). One of the oldest collections of early films in M/B/RS was purchased from the estate of George Kleine, a film industry pioneer who specialized in importing European productions. The films span all genres, including drama, comedy, educational and actuality films. Theodore Roosevelt Association Collection. The only other collection of early film that can be researched through a published catalog consists entirely of actuality and is focused on a single theme: the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt.
- Captured Foreign Collections. At the end of World War II a substantial number of films were confiscated in Germany, Italy and Japan and eventually transferred to repositories in the United States. The films were deposited in the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Although it has never been clear how they were divided between the institutions, it can generally be assumed that -- as with other collections -- theatrical entertainment films are more likely to be found at the Library and actuality films more likely to be available at the National Archives.
- United Artists Collection. In 1969 the United Artists Corporation presented the Library with its earliest surviving preprint material for approximately 3,000 motion pictures from the pre-1949 film library of Warner Bros. pictures. The collection contains 50 silent features (1913-30); 750 sound features (1927-48); 1800 sound short subjects (1926-48); and 400 cartoons, among them Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. The collection also contains nearly 200 sound features released by Monogram Pictures Corporation and a number of Popeye cartoons released by Fleischer Studios. There are no United Artists films in the United Artists Collection. The early synchronized sound Vitaphone shorts are lacking accompanying sound discs.
- Edison Laboratory Collection. This collection is the result of a 1965 cooperative agreement with the National Park Service, in which the Library reproduced on safety film (mostly 16mm) the motion pictures found at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, N. J. shortly after its designation as a national historic site. Reference prints and negatives are available for the 75 titles in the collection.
- Margaret Mead Collection. A sizeable collection of 16mm films shot by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson as part of their anthropological field work. Most of the footage is unedited, positive camera originals. To date, two groups of Mead films have been inventoried and made available; films made during the 1938 expedition among the Iatmul people of New Guinea; and footage shot in Bali (1938-39).
- Public Archives of Canada/Dawson City Collection. This collection of early theatrical films is most notable for its source, a Yukon swimming pool. During the summer of 1978, amid restoration of Dawson City, workmen unearthed a cache of 35mm nitrate film. At the end of the distribution chain, some 500 reels had accumulated there, and in 1929 were dumped as fill in a swimming pool that had come to the end of its usefulness. The area's cold preserved the film. Some 190 reels have been saved.
Weaknesses/Exclusions
Because of the copyright law, and because most of our gifts have been of American material, the Library is very strong in American motion pictures. Our emphasis on American motion pictures is in accordance with FIAF (International Federation of Film Archives) guidelines, which direct us to protect and preserve our national film heritage. The Library does not have a strong representation of film from other countries. For instance, we have none of the films of Sergei Eisenstein, and our holdings of French New Wave and New German Cinema are very weak. Our holdings of African and Latin American cinema are largely non-existent, in spite of the growing cultural importance of film in these regions.
